Summer Wonder
by Amanthya
Summary: From wbf. Ashleigh and Brad share their secret--they've been secretly dating. The reactions are just what they expected. Can their relationship make it through the differences, disapproval, and hurt they've caused? Or will it end with the summer?


_Re-posted from wbf mb. I may also re-vamp this series of one-shots, but the main focus will of course remain on Ash and Brad's relationship and the coming-out of it to their family and friends. It's set after book four, before book five, after Wonder's injury. It was written for a V-day challenge. Some of the requirements were the line "I could've done that better" and the inclusion of a song. I don't remember the others now, but I kept them in mind when I was originally writing this._

**Summer Wonder**

.  
.

The hot sand sent wave after wave of heat up, burning the feet of the unsuspecting, and generally being picturesque. It was across this sand and past the shaded (and crowded) picnic areas that Brad strode in his sandals to see the most unlikely person.

Ashleigh Griffen was standing on the beach, also in sandals, and a white bikini with green trim and matching sarong. She had her back to him, and appeared to be considering whether not to swim. He tapped her shoulder and she turned.

"Brad!" she exclaimed. She glanced around. "Don't tell me you want to be seen in public with me, being nice. Or are you here to insult me?"

He ignored the question. "Care to join me at the summer house?"

She gave a startled laugh. "Excuse me? Aren't your parents here with you?"

"They're at some get-together. Won't be back for a while." He titled his head in the direction he'd come from. "Shall we?"

After a slight hesitation she nodded and followed him. They strolled across the beach, Brad casually, Ashleigh a little apprehensively, and jogged up the steps to his front door. Once inside, Brad shut the door behind them as Ashleigh tightened her sarong, hands pausing on it. Her eyes regarded him uncertainly.

He stepped forward, grasped her shoulders and kissed her a little roughly. She meeped.

"What--"

"I'm sorry," he said.

She blinked, and sighed. "I missed you too. It was hard, after--"

After Wonder had been injured, he knew. She'd stumbled and fractured her right fore's cannon bone, ending her four-year-old season and the rest of her racing days. In celebration of the career Wonder would not have had without her favorite human, Clay Townsend had given Ashleigh and her parents a week-long all expenses paid vacation to Miami, Florida. So coincidently, Brad had planned his vacation at the same time as hers, when he'd found that information out.

He folded his arms around her, and she rested her head against his chest. After a moment, she pulled away to look around. "Uh--nice place."

Brad smiled at little; the whole place was sterile white--"clean," his mother called it. Brad privately referred to it as "mental-house white."

"Yeah, sure."

"So, what'd you want to do?"

"Talk," he said. She winced. "Ash, don't get all paranoid on me. If I'd wanted to break-up with you don't you think I could tell you in public?"

"And face the shame of everyone knowing we were dating?" she said dryly. "Behind Lavina's back?"

"It's easy to walk up to someone and say it's so over so quickly no one else notices."

"Yeah, you've had some practice," she said in an irritated voice, "like on my sister."

He gritted his teeth. "I thought we weren't going to talk about the past."

"She'd hate me to find out," she continued like he hadn't said anything. "My mother would think I'm crazy." She shook her head and walked over to the living room couch, plopping down on it. "I mean, they think you're a total jerk, not like--"

She broke off, but not soon enough, and anger flared in his expression. "Not like Mike? Mr. Nice-Guy, whom you aren't dating--because he's totally boring?" He dropped himself down next to but not too close to her.

She rose defensively, then sat back down, biting her lip hard for a moment. She spoke quietly. "Don't say mean things about Mike."

"Why?"

"Just. Don't," she said firmly. "It's not his fault he likes me, or that he thinks we're more serious than we are."

"No, that would be your fault," he pointed out.

She scowled at him, but didn't deny it. "I'll talk to him. Or should I?"

He sighed, and her expression grew blank. "Don't look that way."

"How am I supposed to look?" she replied woodenly. Before he could say anything, she asked in a rush, "Are you going to break up with me? Or is this lie just going to keep going forever?"

"No, not forever. Actually, just a little while longer, if that's okay with you." She looked confused when he smiled. "How about we make it official--just us seeing each other?"

Her eyes widened and a smile lit her face like a star lighting the sky. Then, suddenly, the star crashed to the ground and turned her eyes from bright happy hazel to depression dark.

"What's wrong?" he asked in a concerned voice, reaching for her hand.

She shook her head. "Think about this. What's going to happen when our friends and family find out? You already know my family doesn't like you--of course, they don't know you like I do. And your friends aren't interested in knowing me, over-socialized snobs that they are. Remember when we ran into them after Wonder won the Donn Handicap?"

"Yes, but--"

"Not to mention we'll hurt Mike, maybe Caro, and possibly Lavina, if she has any feelings."

"Ash--"

"And you know all those arguments we have about training methods? Geez, Brad, what am I going to do when I actually have to listen to you?" Her eyes widened in an innocent expression, taking the sting out of the comment.

He frowned in mock anger. "Gee, thanks."

She smiled faintly, but continued in a slightly worried tone. "But did you think about all this? It's not going to be easy."

"Yeah, actually, I did. And number one, I don't care what anyone else thinks of our being together. Two, I suppose, however hard it is, I can learn not to tune you out when you blather on about how they horses should be babied more." He grinned at her. She hit him on the shoulder. "The sooner we dump the people we're seeing--officially or otherwise--we can be together."

"This is a big step," she said, eyes distant as she thought about the future.

He tapped her nose. "Hey. Don't get cold-feet on me." When she smiled and relaxed, he got up, squeezing her shoulder once. "Let's celebrate."

"How?"

"Champagne, of course. I know where my parents keep the good stuff." He strode off down the hallway.

"You know that's not legal, for me, anyway."

"So?" he called from the kitchen. A moment later he returned carrying a bottle and two wineglasses. He handed her them.

"Wow," she said, studying the label. "That stuff's expensive."

"Mm. Let's put it to good use, then." He sat close to her.

"I'm not getting drunk and going to bed with you."

"Shame," he murmured in distraction, absorbed in trying to pull the cork out. "Should've brought a corkscrew with me." A minute's worth of pulling did little but get cork bits under his nails.

Ashleigh eyed him with a raised brow, holding her glass. "Want some help? I've got strong muscles, you know, from actually lowering myself and riding horses, not just owning them."

"Oh, shut up." He finally pulled the cork out and fizzed champagne gushed up and spilled over his fingers. He yelped and reached for something to clean it with before it hit the floor--there was nothing--then grabbed her sarong. He tugged it loose and dropped to his knees to scrub at the carpet.

"Hey!" she knelt beside him, setting the glasses down and trying to pull her sarong out of his sticky hands. He stopped and released it, sighing. "At least the stain's light."

Ashleigh studied the white material in her hands, snorting. "Next time, let me do it. I could've done that better, you know." She left the sarong on the floor with a sigh.

"What, you have a lot of experience opening bottles of alcohol?" They returned to the couch. He tried not to appreciate her in her bikini too openly.

"Sparkling cider, thank you very much." She filled her glass, and at her look, he humbly let her fill his without trying to touch the bottle again. They drank to the future and set the glasses back on the floor. He poked her in the side.

"I'm putting a weight-clause in the prenuptial."

"What!" she smacked his arm and they fell to wrestling on the couch, then tickling. Laughing, they snuggled together, enjoying one another's company.

Just as they were beginning to doze off, Brad heard something click. He sat up, frowning.

"What is that?"

Someone was singing, something about endless love. He glanced up and a blinking red light on the stereo caught his eye. Oh, the radio was on a timer. Must be the easy listening station. 'I wonder why it turned on now?'

"What's up?" Ashleigh asked, sitting up as well, putting her arm through his. He slipped his arm around her waist and turned to face her. She noticed the radio and looked a little freaked out.

"Nothing, the stereo's on a timer, is all." He kissed the tip of her nose. She smiled, and they leaned closer. Kissing gently, then more deeply, they didn't notice anything else, until they heard a thud coming from the direction of the front door, and broke apart a little ways. The front door was open, and in it--

Clay Townsend's leather business portfolio rested at an angle on against an also expensive leather shoe. Their gazes traveled up, catching a flash of the light blue of Serena Townsend's dress as she caught up to her husband, and a little farther up, Clay's stunned expression.

"Um."

.  
.

_A/N: I couldn't think of a better title, but it's set in Miami, and a lot of people in the fic and fics to come (will) get surprised, and another way of saying surprise is, according to the computer thesaurus, wonder--couldn't pass up a pun-y bit like that. ^__^_


End file.
